PHILADELPHIA (PA)
The Dallas Morning News
The conviction of Jerry Sandusky, the former defensive coordinator at Penn State, took place on the very same day last week that a jury in Philadelphia delivered a devastating verdict against the Catholic Church. Both cases involved sex abuse of minors by men whose horrific crimes, to a great degree, were facilitated by an institutional failure to protect vulnerable children.
Sandusky, for understandable reasons, received the national headlines. But the case in Philadelphia merits equal, if not greater, attention because it represents the first time that a senior official of the Catholic Church was held responsible for the abuse carried out by priests under his supervision.
The conviction of Monsignor William Lynn on a single charge of endangering a child was rightly hailed as a significant victory by victims of abuse by priests and their advocates, who for years have complained that the Catholic Church itself was often complicit in the crimes. As secretary for clergy at the Philadelphia archdiocese, historically one of the most important in the country, Lynn was like many church administrators in that he knew the histories of abusive priests and yet did nothing to prevent them from preying on children.
The significance of the verdict in Philadelphia, however, does not end with Lynn’s conviction. Evidence produced in the case offers indisputable proof that Cardinal Anthony Bevilacqua, an ecclesiastical prince of the Catholic Church and the head of the Philadelphia Archdiocese from 1988 to 2003, was equally guilty of endangering children.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.